Magico compared to Tannoy

ebm
You are so right. Not nice at all. The owners have so much invested, they don't want to hear it. Same for both speakers. Perhaps I should retract that and proclaim my undying love for both. 

I’m probably one of the few who have moved from tannoy to magico so I thought I should respond to this.  I had the Kensington’s (SE) with primaluna dialogue premium preamp and HP amp.  I went to Magico A3.  The tube amps were not a good match for the A3, so thinking it was a power issue I got another PL amp to use as mono blocks at 150 w/ch with KT120s.  It was a bit sluggish still, did not sound right, so I moved to Luxman 509x, which was a great match, much more detail, clarity, and speed.  Anyway, my comparison will be the Tannoy with the tubes vs the Magico with the Luxman.  Overall, the Tannoy had the better midrange, very nice.  The Magico had a more even frequency response however from top to bottom.  Highs were much more revealing while not being harsh in any way, and bass was significantly better, going lower with better pitch definition and impact.  For my tastes I enjoyed the Magico more, which is why I switched of course, but I still hold the Tannoy in high regard.  The midrange is just excellent.  I wish I could have heard the Tannoy with the Luxman, I think it would have been an even closer race.  I did at one time have the Turnberrys with the Luxman 550ax, and this was a fantastic combination.  Ultimately these are different speakers and a lot comes down to what music you listen to and tastes, for example whether you want to hear a Beautiful voice with accompanying instruments (Tannoy) or the same music with more Soundstage precision and background details in the recording venue, tighter bass, but not quite as beautiful (Magico).  And I’m not even saying which one is more ‘correct’.  That is, by beautiful don’t think I mean ‘colored’.  This is more about overall presentation. Also, I think the Tannoy are probably a lot easier to match with electronics and will sound good with a lot of things whereas the Magico needs a lot of current and may be fussier with “lesser” amplifiers in quality.  The Magico are more precise and coherent whereas tannoy is very pleasant to listen to and in many ways does things that many other loudspeakers can’t do.  As always best if they can be auditioned.  

Great post....

Thanks from a past  happy Tannoy user....

@jimmy2615 I am happy to hear that you like your Magico A3s. I preordered them when they were announced. I would like to say that my experience with their need for current or watts is different than yours. I don’t know how loud you play your music. I play mainly jazz. But not exclusively so. However, I have driven my 88dB 4 ohm A3s very well with First Watt SIT-3 and a M2. Also with an F5 I used to own. No issues. Good SQ and volume. They are also driven well with the 3 tube amps I own: PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP with stock preamp tubes and stock EL34s. Also with a Boyuurange A50 Mk3 300B tube amp that has only 7-8 WPC. Also driven well by a Raven Blackhawk Mk3 I recently acquired. All of these amp drive the A3 with authority. I never get the volume knob to 12 o’clock. Also tube watts are greater than SS watts, so to speak. Are your A3s rated at 88dB and 4 ohms? Do you use stock cables or upgraded cables? Do you take your power straight from the wall outlet or do you use power conditioning or regeneration? Also what size room do you have? Mine is a medium to small room. Also have you optimized your speaker positioning? Just curious as to why your experience differs. Thanks. 

King, my room is 13.5 by 21 feet. I listen mostly to classical, some jazz, blues, etc. I wasn’t saying the primaluna wasn’t enough power - note that in at least the nominal ratings the Luxman 509x 120 w/ch is less than primaluna dialogue premium monoblock with KT120s at 150 w/ch at 8 ohms, if memory serves correct. Also, I preferred the PL over a well regarded SS 400 w/ch integrated amp (JRDG Continuum) with the A3s. I just found that the A3s to my taste were much better suited to the Luxman than the PL Amps. For the purposes of this discussion (comparing tannoy with Magico) I was just presenting the best combination of amps I had with each speaker at the time, for sake of comparison. And having owned both, I do think the tannoy is less fussy than the Magico for pairing with amps. That doesn’t mean you can’t use the Magicos with different amps to good effect. I think the magicos just respond better to a quality amp, and I was told by two dealers that “they need high current”, which in my experience is a common trend with sealed LS (and subwoofers). But I have no idea if that is why I liked one over the the other. However, having replaced the Luxman integrated with their M900, which is in fact a much higher current amp (and given, a much more expensive amp), there was a big difference in sound quality. I had the amps plugged directly into the wall with upgraded power cords (PS audio AC-10) with Nordost Heimdall speaker cable. And I listen relatively low, probably about 75-80 db or so without considering peaks.